Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D65/00—Wrappers or flexible covers; Packaging materials of special type or form
  • B65D65/02—Wrappers or flexible covers
  • B65D65/16—Wrappers or flexible covers with provision for excluding or admitting light
  • B65D65/18—Wrappers or flexible covers with provision for excluding or admitting light with some areas transparent and others opaque
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B31—MAKING ARTICLES OF PAPER, CARDBOARD OR MATERIAL WORKED IN A MANNER ANALOGOUS TO PAPER; WORKING PAPER, CARDBOARD OR MATERIAL WORKED IN A MANNER ANALOGOUS TO PAPER
  • B31B—MAKING CONTAINERS OF PAPER, CARDBOARD OR MATERIAL WORKED IN A MANNER ANALOGOUS TO PAPER
  • B31B50/00—Making rigid or semi-rigid containers, e.g. boxes or cartons
  • B31B50/74—Auxiliary operations
  • B31B50/81—Forming or attaching accessories, e.g. opening devices, closures or tear strings
  • B31B50/812—Applying tabs, patches, strips or strings on blanks or webs
  • B31B50/8122—Applying patches
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D2203/00—Decoration means, markings, information elements, contents indicators
  • B65D2203/10—Transponders
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D2211/00—Anti-theft means

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing food wrapping provided with an EAS anti-theft device and a production line for implementing said method.
• the invention also relates to the wrapping thus obtained, in particular sheets of paper joined to a film of food-grade plastic provided with flaps.
• EAS Electronic Article Surveillance
• EAS Electronic Article Surveillance
• tags or labels tags or labels
• acoustic or luminous systems located at the exit of the premises.
• radiofrequency systems are those which interfere the least owing to their limited power and very low frequency range of between 1.75 MHz and 9.5 MHz, more commonly 8.2 MHz, which can be easily screened.
• Source tagging refers to the application or fixing of an EAS device, performed by the supplier or manufacturer, either during manufacture of the wrapping or directly on the product itself at the production plant, instead of at the retail sales outlet. Source tagging frees the retailer from the need to apply the EAS device and reduces the delay between reception of the merchandise and placing of the merchandise on sale.
• the greatest advantage for the supplier is the possibility of maintaining unaltered the aesthetic appearance of the wrapping, within which the EAS device is concealed and from which, therefore, it is difficult to remove.
• US 5,982,284 describes electronic devices of the type in question which may be laminated into a tag or label in order to prevent a theft.
• US 5,982,284 identifies the problem where, although these electronic protection devices are relatively thin, they nevertheless form a step on the surface receiving them. This step, in addition to making their presence obvious, complicates reading thereof. Therefore, the object of US 5,982,284 is to provide a tag or label such that the edges of the device are concealed within the lamination so as not to reveal the presence of the device, but at the same time prevent the difficulties of reading the variable information printed on the outer surface of the tag or label.
• one object of US 5,982,284 is to conceal the step represented by the edge in the outer perimeter of the electronic protection device and also its volume.
• a tag or label comprising a flat and thin flexible electronic device arranged between facing sides of two sheet portions and an adhesive substance which fixes the facing sides of the sheet portions to the opposite flat surfaces of the device and to each other, except for an adhesive-free zone, which is varyingly defined. Also in the case of the abovementioned patent, knowing that the EAS label is associated with the price tag, the shoplifter may remove in one go both the label and the tag, throw them away and leave the premises, hiding the unpaid merchandise on himself.
• the patent EP 1054369 describes a method for manufacturing sleeves, from a strip, which are intended to surround a product such as a spray can. During the sleeve forming process an adhesive is applied for fixing a anti-theft protection device which, in one embodiment, is located inside the sleeve so that it is not visible. It can be understood that this solution is not suitable for the purchase of merchandise from a "gastronomy" counter.
• the patent FR 2762120 describes a sheet or a bag intended to contain an article on sale, incorporating a detectable element made of magnetic material. The element is in the form of a metal wire situated between two layers of paper or between a layer of paper and a layer of polyethylene, which form the sheet or the bag.
• the magnetic element may be fixed in position by means of a self-adhesive substance or heat weld in a plastic layer and is incorporated during manufacture.
• the solution is designed to solve the problem of concealing the EAS device inside the packaging, but does not state how the cashier is able to deactivate the protection device when a regular payment is made by a customer.
• the patent application US 2009/0096609 describes a method for manufacturing an RFID (radiofrequency identification) label or tag on a wrapping material such as a sheet of plastic.
• the method comprises the steps of: gravure -printing a protective layer on the inner side of the sheet, a dissolving layer made of water-soluble material on the protective layer and a pattern without water-soluble material in a predetermined zone of the dissolving layer; forming a conductive layer on a surface of the dissolving layer and on the predetermined zone; rinsing the inner side of the sheet using an aqueous solution in order to remove the protective layer from the water-soluble material and the conductive layer with the pattern without the water-soluble printed material in the predetermined zone so as to form an antenna pattern; connecting a chip to a feedback terminal of the antenna so as to form the RFID tag on the inner side of the sheet; and combination of an inner side of the sheet with an inner side of a substrate by means of a coupling agent in order to manufacture the wrapping material using the RFID tag.
• this method of manufacturing RFID tags on a sheet has the advantage of applying directly an RFID tag on a sheet; however, this method is complex and not easy to apply in practice.
• An undoubtedly simpler method of applying an RFID tag onto a bag is that described in patent application CN101462603.
• the method comprises gluing a plurality of RFID labels or tags onto a backing strip and applying the latter onto a device for forming wrapping bags so that the backing strip moves in the same direction as the material which forms the bags.
• the backing strip of the RFID tags changes direction moving towards the material which forms the bags, and each RFID tag, owing to this change in direction, is detached from the backing strip, is positioned on the material which forms the bags and is then pressed against it so as to be glued at uniform intervals so that each bag is provided with an RFID tag, once the bag has been folded and cut to size.
• the speed of deposition of the labels is low precisely because a multiple application system is not envisaged.
• the amount to be paid is printed on an adhesive label and this is normally applied so as to seal the products acquired by the customer inside a bag.
• an EAS device in particular an RFID tag
• the RFID tag could be applied not to the bag, but to each sheet of paper used for wrapping purposes.
• this sheet has standard dimensions and may be of the laminated type, i.e. formed by at least two different layers which are glued together and if necessary provided with flaps for facilitating wrapping.
• An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a food wrapping in the form of a laminated sheet which can in turn be divided up into sheets or smaller sheet portions of suitable predefined size, each containing an RFID tag concealed inside it, so that any fraudulent removal of the tag produces the consequent breakage of the packaging and the direct exposure of the food article externally.
• Another object of the present invention is to provide a laminated sheet provided with RFID labels or tags wound in the form of a reel, characterized by diameters which are substantially uniform over its entire width, namely the labels are uniformly distributed in the reel, avoiding the formation of an irregular thickness.
• the RFID tags must be applied at non-uniform intervals over the entire surface of the laminated article, while ensuring the presence of at least one RFID tag on the individual sheet portions which are formed during unwinding and cutting of the reel.
• the labellers are positioned movably so as to solve the problems of thickness created by the application of the tags on the laminated sheet.
• the labellers are advantageously displaceable longitudinally and/or transversely with respect to the direction of feeding of the strip of material which forms part of the laminate (for example paper) so that it is possible to apply single RFID tags in different successive positions along the respective sheet portions of the laminate.
• Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a line for producing a reel of paper or other flexible material in sheet form, provided with an apparatus for inserting an anti-theft device of the EAS type, in particular an RFID tag;
• Figure 2 is a schematic side view, on a larger scale, of an apparatus for inserting RFID tags according to the present invention
• Figure 3 is a schematic front view of Figure 2 of the apparatus for inserting RFID tags according to the present invention, also showing a mechanism for lateral displacement of the machine;
• Figure 4 is a schematic view of a part of the strip of paper or other flexible sheet-like material on which the RFID tags are applied;
• Figures 5a, 5b are schematic perspective views of two embodiments of a sheet portion for food packaging, provided with an RFID tag according to the invention, one being without ( Figure 5a) and one being with ( Figure 5a) flaps.
• laminate or “laminates” is understood as meaning wrapping resulting from joining together of at least two flexible materials, different from each other, in the form of a sheet or strip.
• the laminates according to the invention are preferably in the form of multiple-layer sheets comprising at least two layers of material chosen from among those which are commonly used in the food packaging sector, typically plastics, paper of varying weight, metals.
• the RFID tags will be inserted between the at least two layers or sheets.
• the wrapping according to the invention is made in the form of a laminate comprising a layer of paper, which forms the outside of the packaging, and a plastic film, in particular a sheet with flaps, as will be seen below, forming the inside of the packaging and located in direct contract with the foodstuff, the RFID tags being inserted between the two sheets.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a production line according to the invention, envisages processing steps involving a reel, usually of paper, which is unwound, printed on its outer or front side and dried; then a film of food-grade plastic, previously coated with a layer of adhesive, is applied onto the inner side or back of said paper, so as to form a paper/plastic laminate which will be either cut on the production line into portions with given dimensions, so as to form the sheet portions which form the food packaging or wrapping, or wound onto reels so as to be cut at a later time into sheet portions.
• the sheet portions thus obtained may be used for wrapping in which the foodstuff is in contact with the plastic film and on the outside of which the printed paper is situated.
• the sheet portions according to the present invention each contain an RFID tag arranged between the paper and the plastic film.
• the problems associated with the application of said tags arise from the need to modify the food wrapping production line by inserting an apparatus for applying said labels or tags in such a way as not to interfere with the production and maintenance operations of the line which typically travels at very high speeds.
• 1 denotes a reel of printable material, usually paper
• 2 denotes an exhaust fan for odours and vapours
• 3 denotes a four-colour flexographic printer
• 4 denotes a bridge for drying the print in hot air
• 5 denotes an apparatus for applying RFID tags on the unprinted inner side or back of the strip la of paper
• 6 denotes a hot-air drying fan
• 7 denotes a unit for spreading adhesive, typically a water-based vinyl glue, on a film - which may be in the form of a tubular strip - of plastic material for food packaging, such as polyethylene or the like
• 8 denotes a paper/film joining zone for obtaining the laminate 11
• 9 denotes a supply reel or a series of supply reels for the plastic film
• 10 denotes a stroboscope for checking alignment of the print
• 11a denotes an end reel of paper of the laminated paper/film type provided with RFID tag.
• the laminate 11, instead of being wound in the form of reel, may be sent to a cutting station (not shown) for forming a plurality of sheet portions.
• the reel 9 may be a series of reels which are joined together. The number of reels 9 in the series is equal to the number of sheet portions into which the paper strip la will be divided in the direction of its width.
• FIG 2 which is a partial, schematic, side view, on a larger scale, of Figure 1, it is shown the apparatus 5 for inserting RFID tags according to the present invention.
• the apparatus 5 for applying RFID tags onto the unprinted inner side of the strip la of paper comprises labellers of the known type, for example the Etipack Super 1.3 HS, which are individually denoted by 12 and provided with facing plates 13 for applying the tags to the unprinted inner side of the strip la.
• labellers of the known type, for example the Etipack Super 1.3 HS, which are individually denoted by 12 and provided with facing plates 13 for applying the tags to the unprinted inner side of the strip la.
• the sheet la it is necessary for the sheet la to be deviated by the deflector rollers 23 situated downstream of the print drying bridge 4 and upstream of the adhesive spreading unit 7.
• the RFID tag has a thickness of about 0.2 mm, i.e. greater, by at least one order of magnitude, than the thickness of the paper, which is equal to 0.02 mm.
• the solution to the problem is that of distributing the RFID labels in the most rational manner possible along the strip, so as to avoid puckering on the surface of the reel.
• This problem is solved by increasing the number of labellers which operate on the strip, so that, instead of one or two or six labellers, twelve labellers may be envisaged.
• This embodiment is advantageous, but involves an obvious increase in cost of the plant.
• a particularly advantageous alternative solution is that of displacing transversely, with respect to the travel path of the strip, the group of six labellers simultaneously. After depositing a first row of six RFID tags, the second row will be deposited staggered relative to the first row at a distance equivalent to the width of the RFID labels. This arrangement is shown in Figure 4.
• the longitudinal displacement is less critical since winding up of the strip already per se creates a staggered effect of the tags due to the increase in the diameter of the reel.
• movement of the labellers both longitudinally and transversely with respect to feeding of the strip, which may be computer-assisted where necessary.
• FIG 3 which is a schematic front view of Figure 2, shows a preferred arrangement of the apparatus 5 where six labellers 12 are positioned for insertion of RFID tags according to the present invention. As shown, the plates 13 are positioned, all aligned, in the direction of the width of the paper strip la.
• this shows the group of six labellers 12 mounted on a labeller carriage 14 slidable within a frame 15.
• the labeller carriage 14 is mounted on upper guides 16 and lower guides 17.
• the same guides are provided with (four in the embodiment shown) separate actuator carriages denoted by 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d.
• Each actuator carriage 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d is, in turn, provided with a plurality of pneumatic pistons which are faster than hydraulic pistons (three in number in the embodiment shown) denoted generally by 19.
• FIG 4 is a schematic view of a part of the strip of paper la on which the RFID tags are applied.
• Each sheet portion, denoted by 40 and incorporating a tag 20 is defined by transverse lines a and longitudinal lines b, in the direction of the width and the length of the strip of paper la, respectively.
• the tags 20, which have a thickness greater than that of the strip la will not form raised zones which would result in the formation of a discontinuous diameter of the end reel 11a of laminate, in the direction of its width.
• Figures 5a and 5b show two different embodiments of a laminated sheet portion for food packaging, provided with an RFID tag according to the invention, obtained by means of the application of a strip of food- grade plastic.
• a first embodiment, without flaps, is obtained by joining a sheet of plastic material ( Figure 5a).
• a second embodiment, provided with flaps 42, 43, is obtained from a tubular strip, the sheet or the tubular strip being wound onto the reel 9.
• the laminated sheet portion consists of a film of polyethylene or the like obtained from the sheet or from the tubular strip supplied by the respective reel 9, with a width equal to the width of the sheet portion.
• the flaps 42, 43 are obtained by means of longitudinal cutting of a single side of the tubular strip in a position of the production line upstream of the end reel 11a. For this purpose a number of devices (not shown) for longitudinally cutting the tubular strip of polyethylene, corresponding to the number of rows of laminated sheet portions to be obtained, will be provided.
• the flaps 42, 43 already known in this type of packaging and for this reason not further described in detail, are intended to create a wrapping with improved characteristics for wrapping the food product.
• the present invention improves this wrapping with the addition of the tag 20 arranged between the non-cut side 41 of the film portion and the sheet portion 40 to which the non- cut side 41 is attached.
• the strip la is unwound from the reel, conveyed by means of the rollers 35 into the printing zone 3 where, on its outer side, the print is applied by means of the flexographic system using water-based colours. Then the printed strip passes into the drying zone 4 and is driven by the rollers 23 so that the labellers 12 apply tags 20 onto the unprinted inner side of the strip.
• the strip la with the RFID labels or tags 20 is laminated in the paper/film joining zone 8 together with the strip of polythene over which glue has already been spread.
• the laminated film undergoes an optical check in the zone 10 for print alignment by means of a stroboscope.
• the laminate 11 is then rewound onto the reel 11a, after any longitudinal cutting of one side of the tubular strip when a strip, and not a sheet of polyethylene, is used, as described above.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Making Paper Articles (AREA)
• Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
• Containers And Plastic Fillers For Packaging (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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• 2010
  • 2010-07-14 IT ITRM2010A000387A patent/IT1401198B1/it active
• 2011
  • 2011-07-13 ES ES11754534.3T patent/ES2478290T3/es active Active
  • 2011-07-13 EP EP11754534.3A patent/EP2593379B1/de not_active Not-in-force
  • 2011-07-13 WO PCT/IT2011/000246 patent/WO2012007982A1/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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